France Now Requires Ads to Inform the Public of Photoshopped Images

It's official! Advertisements in France will now carry a disclaimer if an image has been Photoshopped. While it's no secret that models' bodies are retouched to look slimmer and smoother in campaigns, the French government is actually addressing this as a public health issue.

The lowdown: any commercial image that has used Photoshop are required to feature the message "Photographie retouchée" (or "edited photograph" en Francais). Anyone who violates the rule will be fined €37,500...or a hefty 30% of the average cost of creating the ad.

"Exposing young people to normative and unrealistic images of bodies leads to a sense of self-depreciation and poor self-esteem that can impact health-related behavior," the country's Health Minister Marisol Tourainesaid to the BBC.

It may be simplistic to assume that retouched adverts automatically cause negative body image, but we're definitely all for this striking move towards a society that repels any pressure to be as thin as possible. What do you think? Sound off in the comments below!